Of course, it's more than likely that they DON'T know what they're doing.

In recent months, TSA has reminded me of a 3-year-old who got one of those toy tool sets for Christmas; they're madly running around the house banging away on everything with their toy hammer or prying at things with the toy screwdriver. Witness the glee over the mobile ETD setup: "Let's use it at the gate! Let's use it before the TDC! Oooh, let's use it in the parking lot! I want to use it! No, me next!"

Now they're doing the same with the nude-o-scope. Since the undie bomber, they feel they can roll these out without any control. Ms Petrowsky, TSA director at O’Hare, is simply giddy with the thought that they can make this mandatory. It's like the toddler just found that the toy screwdriver actually works. Wheeee!!

Don't expect an "authoritative" statement. TSA has used this kind of confusion to their advantage all along. BB says one thing, the website says another (or different parts of the website say contradictory things), and various TSA supporters here and at PV have given yet other views. (Recall the BS ice debacle, or the shoes on belt/shoes in bin debate.) All part of keeping 6 terrorists and 100s of millions of passengers deliberately confused.